The challenges

that the world

faces, libraries
face with the
world.
Elif Tinaztepe
Partner at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects
 W H AT IN DU STRY L EA D ERS PRED ICT A BOUT T H E FUT URE OF LIBR A R IE S Foreword

Foreword
FIRST AND FOREMOST, libraries have always We cross-referenced these insights with a survey of over
supported their communities — regardless of how their 400 library professionals around the world, asking them
role has evolved over time. As communities change, so to respond to these topics, elaborate on how they’re
too do the institutions that serve them. Librarians are impacted by these challenges and share the strategies
therefore tasked with constantly adapting their services, they’re implementing to tackle them.
policies and even design to meet these developments
in real-time. With this need to anticipate and respond
to short- and long-term trends, it’s important to review
the movements and developments that are shaping the
future of libraries.

We first explored this in 2019, with our inaugural Future Kelly Banks
of Libraries report. In light of the rapid changes we’ve Director of Libraries, PressReader
seen in the past few years, particularly the impacts of
COVID-19 on communities, local institutions and the
ways we work, we’re revisiting this theme. We set out
About Kelly Banks
to see what has changed since then, what remains
Kelly Banks is the Senior Director of the Libraries and Institutions sales
consistent and what lies ahead for library teams in 2022
team with PressReader. She believes that libraries play an essential
and beyond. role in fostering literacy and learning in our communities, and shares
insights on media literacy and the effects of COVID-19 on the industry.
To do so, we interviewed six experts chosen for their When not leading the growing team of passionate sales professionals,
Kelly can be found outdoors with her young daughter or listening to
diverse backgrounds and experiences within the library the latest audiobook from her local library. One of PressReader’s many
field. We asked each person to share his or her insights travel magazines can be found in her download list at any given time.
about what’s to come for libraries in the future —
challenges they may face, new developments coming
and exciting opportunities.
This report will explore the six main themes that
emerged from these conversations, highlighting
important areas of focus for libraries in years to come.

1
#11 | August 2019

Libraries are an indispensable part of our social infrastructure.

Read The Insider: With the popularization of the internet, they are forced to reinvent
themselves, moving from being an institution or repository, to an
Future of Libraries experience rich in knowledge and humanity. In this issue we discuss
how some libraries have rewritten themselves to serve a new
The future of libraries 2019 report here. generation of patrons.

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 W H AT IN DU STRY L EA D ERS PRED ICT A BOUT T H E FUT URE OF LIBR A R IE S Table of contents

Table of contents

O3 O5 O6
Foreword Meet the experts Survey
methodology

O7 O9 13
Accessibility & Shared cultural Holistic
inclusivity & intellectual sustainability
preservation strategies

16 19 23
Civic Digital tools & Workforce
empowerment training development
& media literacy

25
Looking forward

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 W H AT IN DU STRY L EA D ERS PRED ICT A BOUT T H E FUT URE OF LIBR A R IE S Meet the experts

Meet the experts

Keith Thong Elif Tinaztepe Juanita Thacker

President, Malaysian Partner, Schmidt Hammer Director, Marketing
Booksellers Association Lassen Architects of WOC+Lib
Malaysia Denmark USA

Kayla Lar-Son Shamichael Hallman António Torres

Indigenous Programs Senior Library Manager, CEO, WECUL
and Services Librarian, Memphis Public Libraries Consulting Agency
University of British USA Portugal
Columbia
Canada

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We polled library teams around the world with a

16-question multiple choice survey about their
Survey experiences related to the themes covered in
this report. The findings we’ve consolidated were
methodology gleaned from 434 worldwide responses.

Our respondents
come from:

4O%
Public libraries

69
Countries
34%
Academic libraries

1O%
K-12 libraries
9%
6 Corporate libraries
7%
Continents
Government libraries

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O1
ACCESSIBILITY & INCLUSIVITY

Libraries will continue to

develop into accessible,
inclusive learning centers.
LIBRARIES HAVE TRANSFORMED
from content depositories to inclusive learning
centers for their communities by diversifying the use
of their spaces — a trend we first explored in 2019.
Reading should be
Today, the experts we spoke with reiterated the accessible to everyone
importance of accessibility as a core part of this effort.
Libraries of the future need design without barriers Give your patrons a reading experience that meets
to welcome diverse, multigenerational communities. government-mandated accessibility standards
These elements can be physical (wider aisles, lower (WCAG 2.1.), with audio, tab navigation, color
tables, adjustable seating) or incorporated into contrast, font size control and more.
programming, such as offering text-to-speech screen
readers, or closed captioning or ASL translation Learn more about PressReader Accessibility here.
during events.

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To achieve this, library teams need to take a human- voices of all BIPOC employees. Build the efforts to be
centered approach to design. “The architectural equitable and inclusive into library staff performance
design of the building [is important], but also how we management plans. It means nothing to say you are
design the day-to-day happenings within it — the anti-racist or support BIPOC people, it’s a completely
programs, the activities,” says Shamichael Hallman. different thing when you give up some of your
“Even the friendliness of the staff. All of those things fall power putting action behind the rhetoric…I hope
into design.” Human-centric design also empowers EDI-centered design is more than a moment and
the individual. “One of the things that we really need becomes a bastion of librarianship.”
is an approach where patrons will be given plenty of
choices on how they would like to access content, or
participate in an event or webinar for that matter,”
says Keith Thong.

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are critical

components of this work. “Many libraries are
responding to [the value placed on EDI today],
creating panels and revisiting strategic plans,” says Community-led design in
Hallman. “A risk is that this is just a moment. As we Memphis, Tennessee
get past the pandemic, things open back up and we
get back to normal, we lose that moment. It would be “As we think about what it means for
devastating for libraries to not take this time to embed libraries to be rooted in equity and
those newly discovered principles.” inclusion, I think a huge part of that
requires libraries to reorient,” says Hallman.
Juanita Thacker echoes the urgency of making real “Considering the ways they think about
change within library institutions. “Instead of giving the community, the ways they serve the
lip service to EDI initiatives, do the hard work. That community right.”
means taking stock of the ways that you perpetuate
anti-Blackness and have your managers follow As part of the redesign of MPL’s Cossitt
suit,” she says. “Communicate with clear purpose branch, Hallman and his team led a three-
and provide meaningful opportunities to center the month community engagement initiative
focused on the arts community. They spoke
with over 100 local artists to understand
how to best redesign a 2,500-square-foot
performance space. They learned that
there were very few places in the city where
artists felt they could be their authentic
selves, so the library team worked closely
with them to build an inclusive, accessible
space that truly met their needs.

“Just with this small performance space in

one library, we created a model built on
aid that would not only save artists, but
also residents, from ticket costs. This model
has the capacity to create a significant
economic impact.”
Cossitt Library
Memphis, Tennessee, USA

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O2
SHARED CULTURAL &
INTELLECTUAL PRESERVATION

Libraries will place more focus

on co-ownership with their
communities when preserving
cultural and intellectual history
“LIBRARIES WERE AND ARE THE GUARANTOR This is one of the most important functions of
of the preservation of our intellectual heritage,” a library, but the library of the future will find
says António Torres. In a library, we find, access ways to share ownership of these records with
and share the physical books of our literary and its community — an important new theme that
scientific production. The new digital age and its emerged from this year’s research.
technologies allow libraries to use digital platforms
and tools in an effort to preserve content.”

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Kayla Lar-Son outlines how decolonization of the

Uwi7Uwa Library at the University of British Columbia (UBC) library space achieves this. She focuses on the
University of Bristish Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
needs of Indigenous communities when it comes
to the conservation, digitization and management
of their knowledge — uplifting their voices, letting
them make decisions and involving them in how the
library can better serve them. This means developing
more culturally appropriate metadata and inclusive
classification systems, or letting the community
determine their own access protocols. “At Uwi7Uwa
Library at the University of British Columbia (UBC), we
use an adaptation of the Brian Deer Classification
System and the First Nations House of Learning subject
headings,” she says. “So both the classification systems
and the subject headings take into account how
communities describe themselves and how they want
to be called.

“So many Indigenous communities have very specific

protocols for how to access information about
them, and a lot of times this is informed by their own
worldviews and understandings,” she continues. “So
when it comes to us as libraries, we need to be aware
of how to facilitate conversations with communities,
especially when we’re acting as stewards of sensitive
information or stewards of materials that we have
gained in our collections over time, without the
permission of specific communities that we work with.”

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Tūranga
Christchurch, New Zealand

It’s also important that the design of the library reflects

the land and the communities situated there. For
example, the design of the Xwi7xwa Library at UBC
is informed by structures built by Interior Coast Salish
Nations. In the Chinook Jargon language they are
called Kekuli, the Lil’wat Nation calls them S7ístken
and in English they are known as pit houses. Likewise
when Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects designed
a new library in Christchurch, New Zealand, they
worked with the local Ngai Tahu Indigenous peoples,
the rightful owners of that land. The result was a space
designed for their rituals — the ways they meet and
greet, the ways they celebrate. “Being able to design
a building around movement and interactions is very
powerful,” says Tinaztepe, “Suddenly it just becomes a
natural, intuitive movement through the building for the
people who will use it.”

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Dive deeper
• Our interview with Elif Tinaztepe:
How great library design evolves alongside
its community needs

• More insights from our discussion

with Kayla Lar-Son:
How this Indigenous programming librarian
is helping to decolonize the library

Tūranga
Christchurch, New Zealand

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O3
HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY
STRATEGIES

Libraries will
Successful sustainability initiatives require local tactics,
action and coordination. This hyperlocal focus has
always been a core strength of libraries. While more

emerge as and more libraries are aligning their strategies with the
UN’s sustainability goals, they’re also thinking about

leaders in holistic
their triple bottom line: people, prosperity and the
planet. The experts we spoke with see the library as
a living lab for sustainability efforts, bringing people

sustainability together to share sustainable practices and learn from

each other. This is consistent with our survey findings.

IN 2019, WE FOCUSED on tactics to support the long-

term sustainability of the library itself: diversifying revenue
streams through creative programs and service offerings.
Today, we’re looking at sustainability through a broader Read more
lens: how libraries of the future will demonstrate that
environmental sustainability efforts go hand in hand with How libraries have established their own
social justice, including equality and decolonization, and brand of sustainable development
the general wellbeing of communities.

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Other
strategies
libraries are
applying
Collaborating with researchers Adding climate change databases
or city council and literature to collections

Offering free holds and reducing the number of

reference titles to lessen the need for patrons to
move around the city Reducing paper use when possible

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Libraries can design for holistic sustainability as well.

“When the UN sustainability goals came out, they became
Calgary Public Library – Central Branch
Calgary, Alberta, Canada explicit for all of us,” says Tinaztepe. “All libraries have their
local goals of how they translate them. I think the question
is how we as designers can support them by creating
spatial solutions driven by their values and goals.” She

“I think it’s imperative gives the examples of designing safe and welcoming
spaces to support gender equality, or supporting

for libraries to be improved nutrition by designing gardens and outdoor

space to feed and nourish the community.

able to find ways to Alongside these initiatives, it’s important that libraries
show their return on investment for these efforts. “I think
capture their social it’s imperative for libraries to be able to find ways to
capture their social impact and to be able to tell those
impact and to be able stories,” says Hallman. “It’s important to find the right
sorts of measurements, the right sorts of qualitative and
to tell those stories[…] quantitative data points that can speak to the important
work that’s happening.”
Libraries were and are Thong echoes this, emphasizing how critical this is to

the guarantor of the secure future funding for such projects. “The library
really has to rebrand or reposition itself as a revenue-

preservation of our generating entity for the country, rather than just a cost
center for cultural initiatives,” he says. “The library may

intellectual heritage.”
look into how it can add value to key social economic
sectors or government ministries, where the social return
on investment can be measured from their social impact
tools. This will justify more funding to the libraries from
Elif Tinaztepe
taxpayers and from the government.”

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O4
CIVIC EMPOWERMENT &
MEDIA LITERACY

We’ll see a growing need for

libraries as credible places
of civic empowerment,
both to foster democracy
and prevent the spread of
misinformation
LIBRARIES ARE UNIQUE in that they offer neutral ground a huge responsibility,” says Tinaztepe. “As our societies
for collaboration, fostering democratic practices in a way are getting more and more polarized, libraries are the
other civic institutions can’t. “There’s a general declining one place where we can all come together, regardless
trust in institutions, and libraries are still thought of as of our views, backgrounds and interests. The library is
being very credible places. By being the most credible, the one place that is actually made to bring us together,
inclusive, unbiased democratic space, they also take on regardless of what we think.”

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The experts we spoke with highlighted the opportunities their beliefs and views, instead of opening their minds to
libraries have because they bring together such a explore new ideas or views. So the library actually has a
diverse cross-section of people. The importance of very important role to play. That is to make available on-
sustaining democracy and cultivating media literacy demand content that can be used in a neutral manner
remains consistent with our 2019 findings, though and that allows individuals to make their own informed
the demands on libraries with the rapid evolution of and calculated critical decisions.”
technology and algorithms continue to grow.
Torres agrees: “Libraries are in the middle of confusion
arising from the explosion of social networks, which
libraries also use. There are several problems associated
Read more with these networks, like the issues of false information, not
to mention the problem of internet security. This is a real
The dangers of uncritical media consumption risk, but also a possible opportunity for libraries — the task
of providing reliable content with controlled information,
information that matters.”
“I think many consumers will always be trapped within
their echo chamber,” says Thong. “Especially by all
kinds of clever algorithms that may constantly reinforce

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How to cultivate media

literacy within your library
We polled survey respondents for ideas
to fight the spread of misinformation with
libraries and communities. Here’s what
they said:

• Offer information literacy training to

library patrons
• Within this training, emphasize the
importance of finding relevant and
reliable information sources and
thinking critically
• Create displays or posters with
information about misinformation
online and how to assess digital
media
• Teach children how to assess their
sources and provide access to
reliable sources
• Partner with teachers to teach
media literacy at school

Media literacy resources

• The power of teacher and librarian

collaborations — article
• MediaSmarts — Canada’s Centre
for Digital and Media Literacy
• Common Sense — media literacy
resources
• UNESCO — media and
information literacy directory

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O5
DIGITAL TOOLS & TRAINING
IN 2019, WE STARTED exploring the impacts of advanced

Libraries technologies on libraries and education, particularly

focusing on blockchain and artificial intelligence. In 2021,

will serve as the experts we spoke with focused more on tackling

smaller, tangible steps that will help move libraries towards

important
these broader and more technologically-advanced
trends.

portals to new Thong highlighted the opportunities libraries have to

be the first touchpoint for patrons accessing new, often

technology and
intimidating, tools. “Artificial intelligence assisted learning
and assessment is widely deployed now,” he says. “A
library may even be a mock-test center where one can

training do preliminary tests using AI. And then you have learning
resources using AI that are made available.”

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Hallman reminded us that partnerships with other and one to provide software and training for roughly 50
organizations in the community can play a key role in individuals. “So one of the very first programs that we’re
breaking technology barriers — you don’t need to have going to have is not even run by library staff,” he explains.
all of this expertise in-house. For example, his team “Instead, the library is playing host to connect local
wanted to support local entrepreneurs by helping them entrepreneurs with the business community to help them
build and launch their websites. They partnered with two get their websites up.”
other organizations: one to provide business mentorship

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What new services or community

programming have you What is your primary budget
introduced, or are you planning to priority right now?
introduce in the next year?

73%
said remote access to library content (i.e.
digital news tools, remote reference and
28%
said digital content licences, the highest
ranked response.
information search services), the highest
ranked response.

Lar-Son’s focus is assessing digital tools in service to her

patrons: British Columbia’s Indigenous communities.
In her case, she provides servers and hosting to house
their digital heritage collections. Her ultimate aim is to
empower Indigenous communities to take control of their
own collections. Through this effort, she’s exploring ways
for them to upload their own content, learn new skills
and create their own policies regarding access to their
collections.

Libraries are also investing in digital content licences and

tools to offer remote access to library content, much like
what PressReader offers. “The affirmation of these digital
reading methods, which imply changes in reading habits
and reaching new audiences for reading, is a way forward
for libraries,” says Torres. “Libraries have already seen
a greater demand for them, in recent times, due to the
pandemic situation. These platforms even offer coverage
of content in the local languages of the countries, far
beyond the English language content, which is already
more available.”

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“Electronic subscriptions and e-book spending greatly

outpace that of print materials in libraries. I see that
continuing to grow in the future,” says Thacker. “The
library’s continued presence and existence quite
literally depends on technology. To that end, I can
see library workers at all levels across departments
becoming more tech savvy in response to the
changing times. “
“Electronic
Throughout these discussions, we also heard the
subscriptions and
importance of privacy and confidentiality. How will
libraries continue to protect privacy and intellectual
e-book spending
freedom as society becomes increasingly data-
driven? For the libraries of the future, this will be a
greatly outpace that
prevalent risk and challenge. “The library has to make
critical decisions about what to store,” says Thong. of print materials in
“For what purpose? And who actually can access this
information?” libraries. I see that
continuing to grow in
the future.”
Juanita Thacker

PressReader for libraries

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WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Libraries must
continue to make
important investments
in their own workforce
NOTHING WITHIN THIS REPORT would be possible with the personal and professional growth of such important
the incredible library teams who make it all happen. We’ve individuals. Our survey respondents agreed: 61% of
seen just how much the role of librarians has evolved over respondents plan to provide upskilling opportunities for
time. They’ve been first responders as frontline workers their workforce within the next year. Another 15% plan to
during COVID-19. They are technology specialists and improve benefits programs and 13% plan to increase the
social media managers. They go beyond their official job compensation for their teams.
descriptions every single day.

While this was relevant in 2019, we’ve found that it’s

even more pertinent today. Every expert we spoke with Dive deeper
mentioned that there’s a need to upskill the library
workforce, not only to keep pace with technological, 7 ways to upskill the library workforce
environmental and societal changes, but also to invest in

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Improving library workspaces is another top priority.

In fact, 40% of survey respondents plan to make this
investment in the next year. “The library is a public
space, but it’s also a workplace for so many people,”
says Tinaztepe. “How can we design their workplaces so
that they can work creatively and create programs and
services? Libraries are increasingly using design thinking
in their daily work. What does that workplace look like as
opposed to the classic library workplace, where they sit
“The library is a
in their offices? We should see library workplaces as an
extension of the library.”
public space,
but it’s also a
workplace for so
many people.”
Elif Tinaztepe

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Looking forward
Through all of our research it’s clear the only constant is that libraries will continue to
evolve, but it will be a contextual evolution. While each of these themes is relevant on a
global scale — and libraries can and should share their methodologies, experiences
and strategies with each other — libraries will need to respond to their own contexts.
“The library is unique in that it can be super global in its vision and incredibly local in its
application,” says Tinaztepe. She highlights that the 2021 Systematic Joy of Reading
Award went to the Za’atari Camp Libraries, the first library system worldwide to be run
solely by refugees. What truly matters in the end is hyperlocal impact.

“I see a future where libraries will tackle global agendas, like inequality, poverty,
sustainability, technology, democracy,” she continues. “That will be high on their agendas.
But how they engage with their audiences…the format of it, the substance of it and how
they will operate, will be completely different. I think the future will be as diverse as our
imaginations allow us, and that is quite infinite.”

About PressReader
PressReader is the largest all-you-can-read platform of newspapers and magazines
where people can discover relevant and trusted content from anywhere in the world —
publications such as The Guardian, Newsweek, La Razon, Der Tagesspiegel, Los Angeles
Times, Daily Mail, L’Équipe and Libération.

Using their phone, tablet or computer, readers can browse content online or download
entire issues using the PressReader app. They can subscribe for unlimited access, or get
the full experience sponsored by one of its brand partners, like thousands of libraries
around the world. Institutions that leverage the premium content platform to enhance
their customers’ experience − such as well-known libraries like Yale, Los Angeles Public
Library, MIT Libraries, Princeton University and the New York Public Library.

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